DUSHANBE, May 23, 2016, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has probably been killed in a US air strike.
According to
BBC
, US officials said a drone had targeted his vehicle in a remote area of Pakistan near the Afghan border. The officials added that results were still being assessed.
Mullah Mansour assumed the leadership in July 2015, replacing Taliban founder and spiritual head Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The operation reportedly took place near the town of Ahmad Wal in Balochistan, south-west Pakistan, Saturday afternoon and was authorized by President Barack Obama.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan were informed about the strike shortly after it took place.
International experts say the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour, if confirmed, would be a big blow for the Taliban. He was gradually tightening his grip on the movement by bringing into his fold other leading Taliban members, including a son and a brother of his predecessor Mullah Mohammed Omar, and by launching large scale attacks on Afghan security forces.
Under his leadership, the Taliban managed to capture an important city last year for the first time in 15 years.
Mansour also managed to silence the splinter Taliban group under Mullah Muhammad Rasool, which challenged his leadership, and is credited by his followers for containing so-called Islamic State in Taliban areas.
A vacuum created by his death would once again trigger a leadership struggle, according to
BBC
.
Meanwhile,
Reuters
reports that the Afghan Taliban”s leadership council met on Sunday to start considering succession after a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan targeted its commander.
Two Taliban sources told
Reuters
that Sunday”s meeting of the Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, included discussion of possible successors, including guerrilla commander Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Haqqani, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, would likely prove an even more implacable foe of Afghan government forces and their U.S. allies.
He is widely seen by U.S. and Afghan officials as the most dangerous warlord in the Taliban insurgency, responsible for the most bloody attacks, including one last month in Kabul in which 64 people were killed,
Reuters
reports.
The Taliban were reportedly also considering Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, a potential unifier because of his father’s name. Former Guantanamo detainee Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir and Mullah Sherin were also cited.
